Organ Friends Saint Martin Batzenhofen - organ appraisal of 2008

Cath. church foundation "St. Martin" / Batzenhofen

here: Organ of the parish church

to the local meeting of 09.07.2008

Dear Mr. Priest Walser, very honored members of the church administration,

Accordingly to your wish, on 09.07.2008 I examined again the organ in your parish church. The situation of the instrument again worsened since my last inspection on 12.06.2002, so again I advise your church foundation not to repair the current organ, since due to its too confine and complicated design also after intensive overhaul it will still be susceptible to problems and not easy to maintain.

On a long-term basis the most economical perspective is a new technical conception of the instrument with keeping the casing and a majority of the existing stops, but the number of stops and the sound conception should be designed in such a way that the instrument gets technically less complicated and better accessible to maintenance. That means the organ should have some fewer stops than the current instrument. I would like to remember on my proposals to the new conception of the organ, already given in my letter of 20.06.2002, to which could be referred also for further considerations. Due to the age of the current organ you also will need the agreement of the Bayerisches Landesamt fuer Denkmalpflege (Bavarian State Office for Preservation) for this project.

Also it would be important to make the project conscious and embodied in the parish in a good way. An organ new must be supported by the whole parish. A new organ - as something used only for its beauty - is to strengthen and unite the community of the parish. This should be besides a beautiful sounding instrument the second substantial result of such a project.

Office for church music, Peutinger street 5, 86152 Augsburg Cath. parish office "St. Martin" Batzenhofen Martin street 6 86368 Gersthofen		Telephone (0821) 3166-851 fax (0821) 3166-859 Augsburg, 20 June 2002
Cath. church foundation "St. Martin" / Batzenhofen here: Organ of the parish church to the local meeting of 09.07.2008 Dear Mr. Priest Walser, very honored members of the church administration, Accordingly to your wish, on 09.07.2008 I examined again the organ in your parish church. The situation of the instrument again worsened since my last inspection on 12.06.2002, so again I advise your church foundation not to repair the current organ, since due to its too confine and complicated design also after intensive overhaul it will still be susceptible to problems and not easy to maintain. On a long-term basis the most economical perspective is a new technical conception of the instrument with keeping the casing and a majority of the existing stops, but the number of stops and the sound conception should be designed in such a way that the instrument gets technically less complicated and better accessible to maintenance. That means the organ should have some fewer stops than the current instrument. I would like to remember on my proposals to the new conception of the organ, already given in my letter of 20.06.2002, to which could be referred also for further considerations. Due to the age of the current organ you also will need the agreement of the Bayerisches Landesamt fuer Denkmalpflege (Bavarian State Office for Preservation) for this project. Also it would be important to make the project conscious and embodied in the parish in a good way. An organ new must be supported by the whole parish. A new organ - as something used only for its beauty - is to strengthen and unite the community of the parish. This should be besides a beautiful sounding instrument the second substantial result of such a project.
I would be glad to answer your further questions. Yours sincerely P. Stefan U. Kling - official organ expert Enclosed: Letter of 20.06.2002

Translated to the best of knowledge and belief by Franz X. Koehler back to overview